At the beginning of this semester, I was wondering what is the so-called "Effective team communication" when I first looked at the title of this module, CG1413. Now, at the end of the semester, I am able to say, I know what is "effective team communication" and I have become a communicator.
At the very beginning of this module, we studied the principles of communication and teamwork. Although the principles were quite theoretical, it was not difficult to carry out in our real life. For example, when our CG1102 project group dealt with conflicts, we were expressing ourselves as explicitly as possible. We also set clear team expectations and assign proper roles for each member in the team. As we followed the principles, we were able to work effectively as a team and solve problems efficiently. However, there are also some aspects that needs improvement. For instance, when one of our members were missing, it might be better to listen to her reasons first rather than being too harsh on her. We may improve our skills as listeners.
We also learned the courtesy in writing letters and emails. As both my CG1102 and CG1413 project groups both depend largely on email meeting, it was faily important to get to know how to write properly. I was quite glad that all my group members in both teams could communicate via email without any misunderstanding. Although my mother tongue is not English, they all have no problem understanding me.
In the following weeks, we mainly focus on two projects. In my CG1413 group, I think we were working very well together as a team. Although we had some difficulties deciding the topic at the beginning, we were brainstorming together, throwing ideas and finally decided our topic and the approach to solve the problem. During the project, I contributed my part to our group. It was satisfactory that I have no problem communicating with my friends. However, in my CG1102 project, I think I need to improve my teamwork skills. Sometimes I have ideas in my mind, but I was not open enough to share with my teammates. In an effective team, all members should feel free to come up with ideas and explain to their teammates. Unlike Jun Hao, our enthusiastic and talkative leader, I was too shy and did not usually share my ideas. That's what I should improve in the future.
In conclusion, I feel my CG1413 experience very impressive. The communication and teamwork skills that we learned and practised in this module will probably help us through our lives in the future.
At the very beginning of this module, we studied the principles of communication and teamwork. Although the principles were quite theoretical, it was not difficult to carry out in our real life. For example, when our CG1102 project group dealt with conflicts, we were expressing ourselves as explicitly as possible. We also set clear team expectations and assign proper roles for each member in the team. As we followed the principles, we were able to work effectively as a team and solve problems efficiently. However, there are also some aspects that needs improvement. For instance, when one of our members were missing, it might be better to listen to her reasons first rather than being too harsh on her. We may improve our skills as listeners.
We also learned the courtesy in writing letters and emails. As both my CG1102 and CG1413 project groups both depend largely on email meeting, it was faily important to get to know how to write properly. I was quite glad that all my group members in both teams could communicate via email without any misunderstanding. Although my mother tongue is not English, they all have no problem understanding me.
In the following weeks, we mainly focus on two projects. In my CG1413 group, I think we were working very well together as a team. Although we had some difficulties deciding the topic at the beginning, we were brainstorming together, throwing ideas and finally decided our topic and the approach to solve the problem. During the project, I contributed my part to our group. It was satisfactory that I have no problem communicating with my friends. However, in my CG1102 project, I think I need to improve my teamwork skills. Sometimes I have ideas in my mind, but I was not open enough to share with my teammates. In an effective team, all members should feel free to come up with ideas and explain to their teammates. Unlike Jun Hao, our enthusiastic and talkative leader, I was too shy and did not usually share my ideas. That's what I should improve in the future.
In conclusion, I feel my CG1413 experience very impressive. The communication and teamwork skills that we learned and practised in this module will probably help us through our lives in the future.
Hi Xiang Yu,
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you have learned a lot from this module just like I did. Whilst the principles of communication in this module may seem fairly obvious when they first highlight it to you :p I find that being told the obvious actually allowed me to be a bit more aware of my personal communication skills. :)
I also agree with you on the fact that you should not be afraid to share your ideas. It is one of the ways for you to voice out and its also one of the ways for you to practice the English language. :p Take for example, my teammate, Khoa. He isn't a native English speaker and it definitely wasn't his first language. Sure, it takes a while to understand his ideas initially, but he came up with some pretty awesome ideas that I myself did not think of. ;)
And now, I find that he has improved much in terms of his communication skills and confidence. :) You could just tell by the way he presented in OP2, couldn't you? ;)
I hope that gives you one extra motivation to be unafraid of voicing out your ideas/opinions during meetings/discussions. :p Your voice will help move the meeting/discussion along, for sure. :)
In overall, I think you did excellent for the module and your presentation was a joy to attend. :) I wish you well for the weeks to come, see you around! :D
Yours sincerely,
Juncheng Chen
Hi Xiangyu,
ReplyDeleteIt was indeed fun and enjoyable to work with you throughout CG1102 project. You never fail to impress me with your efforts and seriousness to the entire project and I could always count on you to get things done. =)
I am glad that you were able to identify your weakness. It would have been great if you had openly voiced your ideas whenever we had a discussion. Perhaps it was also my fault for leading the discussion too much. I will reflect on this.
I am glad to see that you had improved greatly from presentation to presentation as I can see the rigorous efforts you put in applying the principles we learnt.
I wish you good luck in your future endeavors and may we have a chance to work together again.
Yours sincerely,
Junhao Quek
Hi Xiangyu,
ReplyDeleteI am glad to know that you have benefited a lot from this course.Your presentation and writing skills have shown a lot of improvements.
With regard to your presentation style, one small suggestion.I think your voice was quite soft.Try injecting some more energy to your talk:)
I am sure that you can improve a lot more if you put in some more efforts.Good luck on that and all the best for your future endeavors.
Cheers,
Meenu
Hi Xiang Yu,
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned about having conflicts in your team. I felt that it was certainly very unfortunate. Even if the reasons for the conflict were justified, we still should not react with hostility. Think about this, if we treat that team mate harshly, will that make the team better? Will that help with the goal of completing the project? Or will that actually hamper the team’s efficiency?
Also, the reason we are angry is because that person failed to be a good team member. However, if we kept blaming that person, have we not also failed?
We should in fact seek understanding from one another, explain priorities and most important work towards the similar goal of the team. This helps everyone forget the differences and aligns their aim.
This is the first time I read your blog and I must say your writing is definitely good.